What project management tool is in your belt?

Now that you’ve decided to manage some level of your project, it’s time to take a look at some of the options for tools that can help you manage those pesky tasks. Don't worry, it sounds scarier than you think.  There are too many tools on the market to reach anything that could be remotely considered a comprehensive comparison, so I’ll just list some of the ones that I have personally used.

I tried to provide some of the highlights that steer me toward or away from adopting or recommend someone adopt any of these solutions. Some can slice and dice, some can julienne, and some can even clean the crumbs out of your keyboard. Okay, maybe not, but the number of features available vary from solution to solution, ranging in price from free to way too expensive for my blood. I’ve arranged them from simple to complex.

Trello

Trello is a very basic task tracking system that organizes things by boards. (Think Pinterest) It’s very simple in what it does within the tool. Where it excels, is the integration category. There are a lot of integrations through a service called Zapier. Creating the integrations is a little harry, but does some neat things once you’ve configured them. For a seasoned project manager, there are too many hoops to jump through to get this one to work the way I want it to.

Freedcamp

Freedcamp has got to be at the top of anyone’s list who is looking for something easy to use. It has the ability to track basic tasks and associated deadlines and has a fantastic social element. Creating tasks is as easy as creating a sticky note on your desktop. You can assign a person and a deadline and move it from one status to another.

I’ll do ya one better on Freedcamp. Like it says in the name FREE. Unlimited projects and users makes this an easy sell on the old pocketbook. Freedcamp is always working on new development, so their feature to freeness ratio will always be on the upswing. There are additional add on modules, but none that I use.

For a seasoned project manager, Freedcamp doesn’t quite tick all of the boxes in the advanced features category. The biggest hang up for me is financials. Freedcamp offers an add-on module to invoice your customers, but I don’t find that helpful in this line of work. It doesn’t have budgeting capabilities, which I find a must have. It has an integrated CRM for $12.99 per month, but there’s too many other more feature rich options to play with this one.

If you’re new to the project management game and just need a basic way to track tasks and deadlines, give Freedcamp a look.

Nutcache

Nutcache is the best balance to all of the costs and features of the tools listed in this article. The free version is very feature rich, but kind of light on the data storage. It has the basic task tracking that everything else does, has expense management and reporting capabilities. This allows you to keep up to date on what you’ve spent on your project by task and by category. Call me crazy, but I find it helpful to be able to show a business partner what I’ve been spending on my rehab. It’s got a little steeper learning curve, but that’s because it’s got more to offer.

For a seasoned project manager, it has many of the features that need. I don’t get my Gantt chart and a couple other things that seasoned project managers are used to. I get over that little detail because of everything else it has. (Not to mention the Gantt chart is really only useful to me.) Where Nutcache falls short is in the integrations category. If it isn’t in the tool already, it has to be done manually.

If you’re new to the project management game and need to add budgeting and reporting, give Nutcache a look.

Wrike

Wrike gets into that next level of geek for the experienced project manager. It has Gantt charts and integrations with the big name software solutions, but I think they have been outpaced by others in this space. I used to be a Wrike geek, but there are better options out there for general project management.

Zoho

Zoho is the most feature rich option in my list. Those features come with a hefty price tag. I like the features that are available, but be prepared to pay $249 per year to get their features. Out of all of these options, it is the only one that has budgeting capabilities. You’ll have to decide if the bells and whistles are warrant the cost. Their free version doesn’t have enough options too much time opining. As your business scales, you may consider a more complex system like this. I would contend that if you’re getting big enough to consider a solution like this, you may want to start employing the assistance of a professional project manager. These features can be neato, but they will also consume time that you could be spending making deals.

Wrap Up

For the fledgling project manager, it’s all in your comfort level and desired functionality. Start with what you’re willing to spend on a tool and start there. If the free version of something gets you your minimum functionality, congrats! Wherever you end up, managing some level of your projects is a must. Tools these days make it so much more intuitive than it used to be so get in the game!